In the Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer", Dr. McCoy refers to an alcoholic drink known as the "Finagle's Folly," apparently a reference to "Finagle's Law." In Season 2 episode "Amok Time" (written by Theodore Sturgeon, 1967), Captain Kirk tells Spock, "As one of Finagle's Laws puts it: 'Any home port the ship makes will be somebody else's, not mine.'"

"Finagle's Law" can also be the related belief "Inanimate objects are out to get us", also known as Resistentialism.[2][3] Similar to Finagle's Law is the verbless phrase of the German novelist Friedrich Theodor Vischer: "die Tücke des Objekts" (the perfidy of inanimate objects).

A related concept, the "Finagle factor", is an ad hoc multiplicative or additive term in an equation which can only be justified by the fact that it gives more correct results. Also known as Finagle's variable constant, it is sometimes defined as the right answer divided by your answer.